Intensity

If you’re a big fan of Crossfit I am going to warn you up front that you may not like this post.

Based on some of my recent training experiences I am in the process of rethinking my definition of intensity – and consequently Crossfit has been unseated as the “most intense” exercise modality.

Intensity is central to Crossfit – after all, Crossfit is “constantly varied functional movement performed at high intensity.”  In this case, intensity = power.  This is why Crossfit WODs are designed to maximize average power output (remember that power is force * distance / time) and standard Crossfit programming involves moving large loads long distances quickly.  This is a perfectly fine definition and there is no denying the efficacy of this approach.

But I think it is incomplete.  This started as a brainwave I was having while falling asleep on Sunday night, after a weekend of parkour training.  On Saturday I traveled to Raleigh where I trained with some of the NCParkour guys.  At one location we were led into a pit with 10ft. brick walls on all sides.  A narrow staircase led out, but we were forbidden from using it.  The only way out was to wallrun.  Normally a 10ft. wallrun is no great challenge, but there was a step before the wall that was throwing my timing off.  10 minutes later, I was the only one left in the pit and was nursing a bleeding hand.  The others were yelling encouragement from the top, but I was down to my last chance – if I didn’t make it they were going to climb back down and haul me out. (the stairs were still not an option)  So there I was, bleeding, and thinking “this is it.”  I sprinted towards the wall, stepped, jumped, hit the wall perfectly and was up and over the top.  I’d made it.  My average power output during those 10 minutes was, by Crossfit standards, pretty poor.  But I’d argue that those 10 minutes were very intense.

Or take the flow drill we did – a very technical sequence of jumps, rail balances, vaults, and landings.  The wattage requirements were not very large, but once again I’d argue that it was an incredibly intense experience.  Or a catleap I did on Sunday that was an easy horizontal distance, but was fairly high up – dealing with vertigo definitely added to the intensity!

The difference is that these all involved the mind and/or the nervous system rather than the musculoskeletal system.  There is a saying that parkour is 90% mental – once you convince yourself that you can do something you find that your body can handle the challenge easily.  Training and cultivating mental intensity has long been a goal of many old forms of training – think most martial arts, yoga, and meditation disciplines – but is largely absent from our modern forms of physical education.  The mind and the body are a unified whole that cannot be separated, and we risk much by ignoring proper mental training.

Of course, there is no way to effectively calculate “mental intensity” to provide measurable repeatable data.  Crossfit excels at doing this for power output and correlating increases in power to increased wellness.  I’m not sure what the scientific unit is for Getting Over Fear… however, I think we can apply the long-held principle of progression and overload.  Push yourself mentally a little bit further every day and I think you will make great progress.  These mental obstacles do not need to be dangerous to be effective – a big challenge I’m working on right now is rolling through confined spaces.  Messing up means a bruised instep at the worst, but it is more mentally taxing than you may imagine.  Try out some mental training and let me know what you think.



Comments

[Josh]

Really nice post, Colin!

I agree with you, as you know.

As Buddy Lee, the king of the jump-rope says - "Train the way you want to move."

Scientifically, Buddy (and you, here) is exactly right. The body's adaptation response to a stimulus is very specific. The SAID principle rules all.

Training Crossfit-style makes you really good at doing Crossfit (if it doesn't kill you first). Just look at Mark Twight. Once a world-class mountaineer, now training CF style. Has entered a lot of different types of races to try to show that his method is "generally applicable," but hasn't won any of them.

The body does not adapt "generally." Not in any way.

[Charlie Reid]

I would argue that Crossfit can, and often does, detract one from building mental toughness. They speed up and push through things, often at the sacrifice of good mechanics, in order to achieve some pre-defined goal. Not to say that this makes Crossfit bad, however, if one does not cultivate a climate of being present and focused, the workout is just that--a workout. But what if you could turn your workout into a workIN, as well? What if you took an hour and just did bodyweight squats--as many as you could do. You would learn how to focus and pace yourself in order to make it through the full hour. I also encourage people to try training in complete silence, which allows them to tune into their body and pay attention with how it is accomplishing movement (i.e.-do you realize you are squatting more on one leg than another?). I did an hour of burpees two weeks ago and it was one of the most meditative things i've ever done. Most people don't have the patience or interest in the way their body moves in order to stick with training like this, but i think there is a lot of value in it.

Keep on getting your mental on,

Charlie